The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for controlling programs in a network. In particular, the present invention is directed to a method and apparatus which automatically detects and corrects error conditions occurring in programs running on network workstations.
Today's networks are expanding in size and complexity. A network administrator is typically in charge of planning, organizing and maintaining the network. His responsibilities include troubleshooting not only network hardware and software problems, but hardware and software problems on each of the workstations in the network. As much as eighty percent of his time can be spent on troubleshooting problems on the workstations, including problems specific to each program that the users may be running. Until the network administrator can fix the problem for a user, the workstation may be down. Such downtime can be costly for any organization whose operations depend upon proper functioning of the network and its workstations. Further, because the network administrator must be able to diagnose and fix any problem that can occur with all the programs that are running on the network, he must be a highly skilled individual with at least a working knowledge of all network programs.
The present invention relates to a system for assisting the network administrator in solving the problems encountered in the network. A number of earlier versions of the program according to the present invention have been available in the marketplace for more than one year which will detect network problems and report them. The newest of these versions, released November 1992, is AlertVIEW.TM., Version 2.0, available from Shany, Inc., Mountain View, Calif. These earlier versions can inform the network administrator that a problem exists with a particular application program running on one of the network workstations. However, the prior versions have only a limited capability in that they can only send a single command, or trigger, to the workstations in response to the detection of the problem, that is, upon receipt of an alert at a management console. In particular, the management console sends a trigger causing one of the following actions to occur: freeze, unfreeze, or reboot a workstation, start and stop a program running in the foreground, send a message, or send any single command in the form of a custom trigger, that the user indicates should be performed in response to specific alerts.